Archive for the ‘Dandakaranya’ Category

Ranchi (Jharkhand), Dec.19 (ANI): Formally accepting their support and role in facilitating the recent escape of 303 inmates at the Dantewada Jail, the Communist Party of India (Maoists) has hailed the incident as a huge moral victory for all revolutionaries.

Appreciating the daring act at the Dantewada Jail, the Bihar-Jharkhand-North Chattisgarh Special Area Committee and the Special Areas Military Commission, has hoped the incident would further inspire those activists who are lagging behind.

“Bihar-Jharkhand Uttari Chattisgarh Special Area Committee, welcomes you all back with a big salute for your courage on behalf of Special Area Military Commission under Regional Committee, Commission and zonal committees and commands and other associated groups. It is hoped and appealed to the people’s gladiators, still lodged in jails, that they would take inspiration from your act of bravery as showcased recently by you,” stated Rakesh, Secretary of the outfit, in a media release.

“By freeing yourself and other fellows from the confines of jails without any outside help (except moral support), you have created a history. It has taken our Red Flag‘s popularity to another level of fame and respect. You now stand as ideals amongst all revolutionaries and a big source of energy for others,” Rakesh added.

On Sunday (December 16), several Naxalites had attacked a jail in Dantewada and freed 303 inmates of which 40 were Maoist leaders. The also took away over a dozen guns and huge cache of ammunitions.

There were 377 inmates in the jail at the time of the break-in.The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is conducting ‘People’s War’, a strategical line developed by Mao Zedong during the phase of guerrilla warfare of the Communist Party of China.

It has effective control over some regions of Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh as well as presence in Bihar and the tribal-dominated areas in the borderlands of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Orissa.The CPI (Maoist) aims to consolidate its power in this area and establish a Compact Revolutionary Zone to advance the People’s War in other parts of India. (ANI)

(The following is a report of… struggle and armed resistance of the guerillas of People ‘s War in Dandakaranya in the year 1998)

The Peasant voices of hunger thunder in the anti-famine rallies.

The vast region of Dandakaranya covering eight districts of the three states of MP, Orrisa and Maharastra, still lives in the company of famine year after year even after the ‘Golden Jubilee’ of the so-called Independence of India. And the irony of it is that it has no dearth of rivers Indravathi, Pranahita, Godavari, Sabari and several other rivulets and streams pass through Dandakaranya. It has water all over but neither the cattle and people have enough to drink nor the land has the good fortune to be soaked. As famine strikes the population every year, people migrate to the towns or to the more developed rural areas to work as coolies. In the more backward areas like Abujmahad, people are forced to consume the bark of the trees to ward off hunger.

Under the leadership of CPI(ML)[PW], these famine-stricken peasants of Dandakaranya came out in large rallies and demonstrations in 1998 against the govt. demanding compensation and relief for the victims of famine, for declaring these areas as famine-prone; for providing irrigation facilities and supply of seeds etc.; participated in raids against the big landlords and hoarders, confiscated their property and distributed it among the poorest sections; and collected funds and food-grains in aid of the severely affected people. More than one lakh people were mobilised into rallies in South and North Bastar, Gadchirolli, and Bhandara – Balaghat -Rajnandgaon divisions. “Anti-Famine Struggle Committees” were formed in several places which collected about 100 tonnes of foodfrain and Rs. 16 lakh in cash and distributed these to the famine-stricken families.

The campaign against famine began at the end of 1997 and continued until mid-1998. During this period hundreds of adivasis of Dandakaranya Adivasi Kisan Mazdoor Sangh (DAKMS) and Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sangh (KAMS) took part in the campaign. Forming themselves into teams of 7 to 8 members, those campaign batches numbering around 75, covered more than 1000 villages all over Dandakananya. What was striking was the prominent role played by women in the campaign and their participation in the rallies. In many areas they equalled in numbers to those of the men. For instance, in Kunta squad area in South Bastar, out of the 18 propaganda teams, half belonged to KAMS. In Basaguda area in the same district, out of the 32 teams, 14 were all-women teams.

Huge rallies were held in Kunta town in Jan 1998 in which 20,000 people from 180 villages participated. Most of them came from long distances armed with their traditional bows and arrows to resist any obstruction by the police forces. For the Bhopalapatnam rally held in the same month, though thousands of people were stopped on their way to the venue, over 10,000 people from 110 villages finally turned up at the rally. Rallies were also held in Bijapur with 3000, Avupalli with 20,000 people from 160 villages, and at a few other places. “Never in the history had Bastar seen such huge meetings and rallies in the tehsil towns” wrote the local press.

In Malkangiri town in Orissa, a I 0,000-strong rally was held under the banner of Gona Andolan Jakth Front (GAJF) in Nov.97 itself.

Rajnandgaon and Balaghat districts of MP have been the worst hit by famine. It was the most severe in 50 years and over 90 % of the land affected was due to drought. The people could not get even 15-20 % of their crop. There were no seeds, for the next sowing. With the initiative of the DAKMS and KAMS, a front by name “Akal Peedith Jana Sangathana” (APJS) was formed which mobilised 10,000 people to a rally to Chui Khadan.

In Gadchiroli district, “Famine Prevention Committee” was formed which held several rallies and meetings. In Dhanora, Korchi and Kurked, they demonstrated near the Tehsitdar’s office in January and held marches in Ahiri, Etapalli, Bhamragadh and Dhanora in March’ 98. Around 4000 people marched for 7 km and held a rally and meeting in Allapalli town. A rally was organised for the third time in Dhanora in April. Rallies were also held in North Bastar division.

All these rallies, in which the adivasi peasantry participated in thousands helped in exposing the governments anti-people policies as well as to raise their collective fighting spirit and consciousness that they have to stand ‘on their ‘own legs to achieve their demands. Rejection of the Parliamentary farce by the adivasis. In the 12th Lok Sabha elections in Feb. 1998, the adivasis under the leadership of the DAKMS and the KAMS, took up an extensive campaign throughout the 60 Parliamentary constituencies of Dandakranya urging the people to boycott the elections, reject the anti-people parliamentary institutions and to establish their own organs of democratic people’s power in every village.

In South Bastar division alone over 50 propaganda teams campaigned for a week prior to the election in Feb.1998. Several public meetings were held exposing the parliamentry farce in which thousands of people participated. The response to the boycott election campaign was tremendous. Thousands of people in every range participated in the rallies and meetings organised by the DAKMS and KAMS. And finally, the actual voting in many villages of Dandakaranya showed the irrelevance of the election for the people.

In Kunta area in South Bastar, not a single vote was polled in 41 villages. In the entire area itself, there was hardly 5% polling according to media reports. In North Bastar, in 22 villages in Koyalbeda area, 10 villages in Kondagaon area, 6 villages in Keshkal area, totally in 38 villages, there was total boycott and in another 50 villages less than a dozen votes were polled. In another 16 polling stations in Abujmabad in North Bastar, the votes polled ranged between 4 and 20. In the entire area there was only 18% polling. In Bastar Parliamentary constituency as a whole, 27% votes were polled – the least in the country.

In Gadchirolli district, 40 special reserve police camps and 15 CRPF companies were deployed in addition to the existing 40 Police stations. A total of 6,000 armed police were deployed in the district during the election, who conducted extensive combing operations in the forests. In spite of this massive police operation, no political leader ventured into the rural areas of Gadchirolli to campaign during the election. The success of the election boycott campaign in Dandakaranya and the active involvement of the masses in the campaign points to the favourable situation for establishing the alternative institutions of people’s power which have already began to operate in scores of villages in the guerilla zone.

Successful struggle of the tendu-leaf workers

Forest produce is an important source of liveli-hood for the adivasis of Dandakaranya. And the most important of these is tendu leaf. Every summer thousands of adivasis through out Dandakaranya engage themselves in tendu leaf picking without which the very survival of the adivasis is at stake. And ever since the CPI(ML)[People’s War] entered Dandakaranya 18 years ago, the adivasis have been waging struggles for increase in the wages for tendu leaf picking.

In 1981-82, in Gadchiroli district, only three paise was paid as wage for 7~leaf bundle. In Bastar it was 2-3 paise for 50-leaf bundle. Through their resolute and collective struggle over the years, they were able to enhance the wages several times more.

In the summer of 1998, the adivasis organised themselves into “tendu leaf workers struggle committees” in about 1000 villages in Gadchiroli and Bhandara districts and went on strike demanding increase in wages for leaf picking and curing.Bowing to the resolute determination of the adivasis the government announced a rate of 66l/2 paise per bundle. The people could however secure a rate of 135 paise per bundle from the contractors. The Gadchiroli and Bhandara adivasis, by achieving perhaps the highest rate for tendu leaf picking in the country,defying severe state repression, have shown that united, relentless struggle can achieve anything.

In Kanker, Dantewara, Bastar, Rajnandgaon and Balaghat, the Madhya Pradesh government froze the tendu leaf picking rates in spite of the increase in the market rates of tendu leaf. The government even decided to forego the revenue from tendu leaf collection instead of giving in to the demands of the adivasis. It has proved itself to be a greater exploiter than the private contractors. Infuriated by this adamant attitude of the government, the families that are~ dependent on tendu leaf in these six districts, converged in the taluk centres in thousands and expressed their anger through rallies, meetings and demonstrations.

As part of this protest 10,000 people participated in a rally in Kunta town on March 19. Another 20,000 people participated in the rallies in the other range centres. In Rajnandgaon-Balaghat division and in South Bastar, people’s militia set on fife lakhs of rupees worth bamboo depots in protest. On April 7, a ‘bandh’ was organised in these six districts condemning the anti-people policies and repression unleashed on people’s movements by the MP government. The bandh was a great success and units of DAKMS, KAMS, KBS and people’s militia participated actively by digging up roads, blocking the roads with trees and boulders and such other methods. The MP government had to ultimately increase the tendu leaf rate to 45 paise per 50-leaf bundle due to people’s protest.

Observing Martyr’s Day in the midst of special police operations

In the midst of the combing operations and special counter-insurgency operations by the police and the paramilitary forces, the adivasi peasantry of Dandakaranyn has not only participated in several rallies against famines, land occupation struggles, tendu leaf struggles, boycott of election campaigns, bandhs, March 8 women’s day meetings, etc., but also in constructing stupams (columns) for their beloved martyrs and observing Martyrs’ Week from July 28 to August 4.

Inspite of this terror campaign the masses and guerilla squads celebrated Martyrs’ Day July 28 on a wide scale, though several operations such as Operation Indravati was launched to disrupt and foil the programmes. On July 28, tribals gathered at the Martyrs’ column built in the traditional manner by piling up big stones, in every village. They stuck posters of the Tallagudem martyrs’ and held brief functions ill memory of all the revolutionaries who laid down their lives for liberating the people. In Kunta and Basaguda areas, the squads with the help of surrounding villagers managed to get 15 feet high cement and brick memorial structures constructed in time for July 28. Meetings were conducted before the ‘Stupams’ jointly by the squads and the mass organisations in each of which between 1000 to 3000 villagers gathered. The police were unable to locate these new “Shahid Stupams”.

The police tried their best to foil the Martyrs’ Week. They confiscated the cement bags that were brought to construct a stupam near Bhopalapatnam. On July 28 they raided Gundem village and Iral village since they got information about stupams constructed earlier. In Gundem village they could not locate the stupam inspite of beating up some villagers. In Iral an informer brought them upto the stupam. – But the people and squads managed to retreat to the forest nearby. Infuriated the police burnt down the decorations and posters, but retreated after the militia fired on them. On August 4, they raided Pusnar village where a programme was planned. But the police party was ambushed by the squad on their way back. Though no one-was injured, the police fired indiscriminately for an hour while retreating. As part of this operation the police also staged a dummy attack on Tallagudem police station. The police attached to the police station fired continuously for several hours and then let out a cock and bull st6ry to the press that, “the police have bravely foiled one more raid on Tallagudem Police Station by over 50 armed Naxalites”! In the Martyrs’ programmes, where meetings were disrupted due to police raids, programmes were conducted a few days later. In the programmes homage was paid t6 revolutionary martyrs from AP, DK, to Comrade Charu Mazumdar and international communist fighters comrade Pol Pot and Mehmet Demirdag, General Secretary of the TKP/ML.

Special Police Operations-Growing Armed Resistance

The governments of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa have been making desperate attempts since long to supress the movement led by CPI(ML)[People’s War] in Dandakaranya. While the repression was heavy in Gadchiroh,~ Bhandara, Balaghat and North Bastar until 1997, it extended to South Bastar and Kalimela area of Orissa from the beginning of 1998 with the rapid growth of the revolutionary movement in these areas. And in June 1998, a Joint Co-ordination Centre was formed by the governments of these states along with the government of AP under the stewardship of the Home Minister-LK Advani.

With the formation of the Co-ordination Centre, repression has been let loose all over Dandadkranya in a more co-ordinated manner since June 1998. Following is a report of the enemy operations in South Bastar:

Repression in South Bastar

Initially the repression carried out was general, but from June 1998 it was extended in the form of specific operations launched simultaneously all over Bastar division. Prom June to August ’98, in the space of only three months came Operation Danteswari was followed by Operation Indravati and then Operation Vajra. The Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs) and Sub divisional Officers (Police) (SDPOs) are personally leading these operations relying mainly on the Special Armed Force (SAF) of the state police rather than the local police. Operation Danteswari and Operation Vajra aimed at creating a reign of terror among villagers, identifying and breaking the range shopkeepers, traders and others like lower level employees who are suspected of helping the squads by, for example, selling essentials etc. Operation Indravati was launched in the last week of July, to foil the Martyrs’ Day – July 28 – programmes.

The ruling classes are well aware of the growing mass base of the revolutionary movement in Bastar, particularly evident during the election when entire villages boycotted the elections and the South Bastar seat officially recorded the lowest turnout.

One of the main aims of this entire campaign of repression has been to identify the local mass leadership among the tribals and terrorise the weaker ones among them into becoming informers.

The government and their loyal servants, the police, are desperate to get authentic information on the movement of the guerilla squads, the range level organisation of-the DAKMS, and village units of the Gram Rakshak Dais (GRDs) and Gram Rajya Committees (GRCs). The DAKMS has been functioning illegally all along, and GRDs are totally secret units of people’s militia. Agitations have been conducted in which the tribal masses have participated in large numbers, led by DAKMS and KAMS, which the police could not prevent. The police have targeted villages suspected by them to be strongholds of the revolutionary movement. villages like Bhandarpalli (Aavpalli range) and Pusnar (Bijapur range) were raided upto six times in these six months. The police stormed into the houses of the mass organisation activists and destroyed their belongings. Bhandarpalli is the village to which Comrades Ramamurthy and Babanna, both of whom were martyred at Tallagudem on March 11, belonged. (Besides, Ramamurthy’s father, Chapa Laxmayya, had been the divisional committee president of the DAKMS, and had been taken away by the police and killed secretly by them in 1991). Babanna’s elder brother, Mallayya, a poor Dorla tribal peasant, was arrested by the police, falsely charged and sent off to jail in one 6f these raids.

The armed police swooping down on a village in a convoy of 6-7 jeeps or on motorcycles, parked themselves in the middle of the village and then let loose their reign of terror. Not only were the villagers indiscriminately beaten, but even their belongings including jewelry and money illegally snatched by the police. Specifically targeting the parents and or brothers of squad members, and the range committee members and their families, the police are attempting to demoralise the squad members and mass organisers and break the support of the families to the revolutionary movement. The police have stooped so low as to offer bribes to the brother of a range committee member (in Pamed range) to have him arrested or killed ! The state has made undisclosed sums of money freely available to crush the revolutionaries.

In the Madded-Kandlanar pocket which they could not reach by vehicles, the police, in a gang of about 30, armed with even LMGs marched by foot through the forest to several villages like Agipenta, Lodhed, Kotapalli, picked up villagers to take back with them. Significantly village women from Agipenta too followed them into the forest, accosted them and forced them to release the men. In this period, from May ’98, 35 villages in Gangalur and Bijapur ranges were looted and 25 people arrested. The raids went on almost uninterruptedly from March to the beginning of August ’98 in Madded and Aavpalli ranges. An estimate of Rs. one lakh has been illegally looted by the police in these two ranges alone.

Shopkeepers, panchayat representatives and lower level employees of the government too have not been, spared in this repression campaign. A few primary school teachers are among those arrested. After the killing of the SI of Pamed PS the vice-sarpanch, a shop keeper Chandrayya was arrested and so badly tortured that he had to be hospitalised. His ‘crime’ was that the ‘murder’ took place close to his shop!! Shopkeepers and traders from Bijapur, Bhopalapatnam, Chintalnar, Basaguda were interrogated, detained and even arrested. Some of them were severely beaten up on the charge of helping the squads. They had to pay hefty amounts to the police to get themselves released. One small shopkeeper from Ganganpalli village near Basaguda, had to spend more than Rs. 20,000 on bribes and bail, after his arrest. Even some hawkers, who peddled their wares going from village to village on cycles were not spared. Constables are being posted at the entrance of shops to check the customers, and regular checking of people on market days is going on. But- when a big trader of Bhopalapatnam was harassed by the police, the traders lobby finally stirred. The Bastar Chamber of Commerce called for a bandh on July 23 against police atrocities. Not only was the bandh successful in the towns, they also took out a rally to the Collector’s office in Jagdalpur on the same day.

South Bastar was reeling under a severe drought last year. The tribal peasantry suffering due to this drought has had to endure severe economic hardships due to this repression. Precious grain, stored for the lean months was destroyed in the raids, goats and hen have been stolen and they have had to cough up thousands of rupees to’ bribe the police to avoid being charged in specific cases. Each person has had to pay anything from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 10,000. In Dantewada police district at least four lakh rupees have been ‘earned’ by the police illegally, while carrying out their campaign of repression. The people’s guerillas have heroically resisted this growing state repression by organising ambushes and. engaging in armed confrontations. Between February and October 1998,a total of 28 policemen including 6 officers, were annihilated and 39 policemen including three officers were wounded in the attacks by the guerillas in Dandakaranya. The details are as follows:

* In February 1998, a Sub-Inspector of Police was annihilated in Gadchiroli.

* In South Bastar, an Assistant Sub inspector of police and a head constable belonging to Oosur PS., were killed in a daring attack by an action team belonging to people’s militia on 18 May 1998

* On 19 June, an A.S.I. of Pamed P.S. in South Bastar was killed near the police station itself by the guerillas and the militia members.

* In Bhandrra-Balaghat division, when a police party led by an Additional Suptd. of Police fired on Paraswada guerilla squad of People’s War, the guerillas returned the fire killing the ASP RN Bansal and an ASI. The guerillas escaped unhurt.

* On 3 August, in an ambush laid by the guerillas of People’s War in Gadchiroli division, five policemen were wiped out.

*On October 10, in the land-mine ambush laid by the guerillas of People’s War, 16 policemen were wiped out while 15 others including a DySP and an SI were seriously injured.

During the same period, the guerillas lost 8 comrades:

five in the unsuccessful raid on Tallagudem PS in South Bastar in March 1998, two in an encounter in North Bastar, and one comrade in an encounter in Balaghat.

The armed resistance by the guerillas and the people’s militia and the fitting replies they had given to the special operations conducted by the enemy, have enthused not only the people of Dandakaranya but elsewhere in the country. Relying on the increasing support of the masses and involving them in struggles and armed resistance, the guerillas are certain to achieve greater victories and defeat the new offensive of the enemy against the revolutionary movement.

Landmine Hits One Cruel SI

ON 9.10.98, in Ike afternoon, SI of Chandurti police station was killed and 8 other policemen were seriously injured in a landmine blast planed by People’s War guerillas at Veernagutta forest of Karimnagar district. This SI was in the forefront of the combing operations in the preceding three months. He arrested and tortured several youth of Manala and other surrounding villages. Conducting raids on villages had become his routine affair. He also conducted ‘police duibars’ against the People’s War Party. On the night of 8.10.98 also he held a police durbar in Rudrangi village, in which he bitterly lashed out at People’s War party and threatened the people with dire consequences if they give food and-shelter to guerillas. The next day guerillas put an end to his ravings.

16 policemen wiped out in People’s War landmine blast On 7.10.98 morning at 10.30 A.M. People’s War guerillas wiped out 16 policemen and injured 15 others in a landmine ambush on Basuguda-Jagarguda Road of Dantewada district of Madhya Pradesh. The police were proceeding in two vehicles for combing operations when one of the vehicles was blasted to pieces, killing 16 policemen and injuring 15. After the blast, guerillas attacked the police convoy in which DSP of Gopolpatnam and SI of Madded were seriously injured.

Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee decided to take up a program with the slogan, ‘boycott government reforms’ for two days, on the 18th and the 19th of May.

Self-reliance Democracy

The aim of the exploitative government reforms is to suppress the revolutionary movement Let us protect the revolutionary movement! Let us boycott the reforms!

There is a wide meaning for reforms. Reform means, to reform a problem, an issue or a matter. This might be personal or social. It might be in the economic, political or the cultural fields. The word ‘reform’ itself expresses that reform does not mean solving a problem fundamentally but only reforming it partially. The extent of reform depends on the intensity of the problem.

Let us know about the reforms of the exploitative government going on in the economic sector and why the revolutionary masses in Dandakaranya are boycotting them. Let us first know about Dandakaranya and the background of the reforms briefly.

A brief introduction to DandakaranyaFor the past few years there is a big discussion in this country about Dandakaranya. The Indian ruling classes, mainly the government, civil, military and police higher officials frequently speak about Dandakaranya. In fact they are seriously worried about the happenings in DK, the name that is being written in red color in the map of India. Media is writing many sensational stories about DK. On the other hand DK is creating new hopes and thoughts in the minds of the oppressed classes. Thus Dandakaranya is gaining importance in Indian politics from different angles.

DK is the wide forest area comprising the borders of the states of Andhrapradesh, Orissa, Madhyapradesh, Maharashtra and Chathisgarh. Dandakaranya comprises of Bastar, the once third biggest district in the country in terms of area (presently Bastar is divided into three revenue districts and two police districts) and Gadchiroli. The area has a width of nearly 55,000 sq.kms and a population of 40 lakhs. The fact that most of the people are adivasis needs special mention. The historical Gondwana is a part of this area.

Dandakaranya is full of thick forests, hills, many perennial rivers and other water sources. It is rich in underground wealth. The wealth consists of valuable minerals like Iron, Corundum, Limestone, Bauxite, Mica, Copper, Uranium, Granite, Dolomite and other such things. Valuable forest wealth, abundant water and wide terrain are the characteristics of the area. It is important to note that the neighboring areas too are adivasi areas and forest areas. Before 1947 British imperialists exploited the wealth from this area. In the later period the Indian comprador and bureaucratic capitalists and imperialists are looting it. As a result the local exploited masses are suffering from utter poverty. They are living a horrible life.

Like any adivasi area in the country Dandakaranya also is facing severe negligence from the central and the state governments. The governments only exploit the resourceful adivasi areas in the county. But they do not bother about the development of the inhabitants. Because of the rich resources they are trying to reform the rail, road and the waterways in the name of ‘development’ in particular areas, to an extent. But they never let know the actual aim of this development. It is nothing but looting away the wealth. So development of these areas must be understood as the development of ‘infrastructure facilities’ in terms of globalisation. In other words, it is called reforms. If we map the areas that are already formed and those that are yet to be formed, we easily understand why they are connected. If we see the roads that were laid whether in the British area or later in the rule of comprador bourgeoisie, we understand that they are irrespective of the inhabited areas. Leaving them aside, the rest of the areas remember one of the medieval ages until a decade ago.

The people in this area are very backward. The agriculture in this area is rain dependent. The average yield is not more than 3 quintals per acre. Until date, ‘podu cultivation’ is the main mode of production in many areas of Dandakaranya. Collection of forest wealth in all the adivasi areas is equal to the rabi crop. The half-dressed bodies, half-starved stomachs, eating mere poisonous roots, storing the fruits available in the forest, eating dried meat of birds, snakes, animals and fish reminds one of the pre civilized development process of the human race. One can assess their condition only by comparing it with the ancient period.

Literacy is very low among the people in this area. Literacy among women is much too low. Protected drinking water is unimaginable. It would not be an overstatement to say that the adivasis do not know anything about medical facilities. There are untimely deaths, malaria and incurable diseases like sickle cell anaemia. Diseases like TB, leprosy and AIDS are not treated and lead to death if chronic.

Why are the exploitative governments competing to develop such lives in the name of ‘development’ for the past few years? Why is the revolutionary movement boycotting them? This is the fundamental question to be discussed. The aim of this paper is to explain this issue.

Conditions in DandakaranyaRevolutionary movement started in Dandakaranya in the early 1980’s. The people gradually understood their lives in the light of revolutionary politics and started becoming part of the revolutionary mass organizations. They came together in the revolutionary struggles in a big way. They got down to solving their fundamental problems. Initially they took up a lot of struggles for hike in wages. Later they started demanding justified wage rate and then the ownership rights on them. They suffered harassment in the hands of the exploitative forest officials. The masses demanded pattas for the forestlands brought under cultivation in the initial period of the revolutionary movement. In the past two decades they have lost patience. Now they started declaring rights on those lands. They have submitted countless applications for irrigation facilities but in vain. So now they are doing it themselves collectively in cooperative method. They went around the political leaders asking for protected drinking water facility. But it was not provided. So the people of many villages started digging small and big wells. The people are demanding for doctors to look after their health. They are demanding a teacher to teach their children. Children and adults are conducting rallies with this demand. But the schemes of the central or the state governments are helping them not even in the least. They are demanding remunerative prices for their crops. They are asking for a justified rate for the forest products. They are demanding the curbing of exploitation in the weekly shanties. But none came to their help. Ultimately the people themselves formed ‘shanty committees’ and are taking up discussions with the traders.

The governments are cutting the forests with the view of profits not considering the environmental problems or those of the people. So the people are obstructing them. The Revolutionary movement is challenging the looting of the abundant sources by the Indian big bureaucratic bourgeoisie and the imperialists. They are resisting the police that are coming to arrest the people on false accusations in all methods. People are making it clear that the Sarpanch, MLA or the MP who come once in five years are not the real people’s representatives and that none of them really solve their problems. They say they have nothing to do with the parliamentary system. They are boycotting the elections. They are more and more organising into Revolutionary mass organizations and are solving their problems in the leadership of the Revolutionary People’s Committees. Formation of such Committees is on the rise in the recent time. Due to the revolutionary struggles, the masses are clear about the actual character of the exploitative government. So they are fighting under the leadership of a revolutionary party despite any number of black laws. They are advancing with great sacrifices. People are facing the armed forces of the exploitative government with the help of the Revolutionary people’s army for protecting their revolutionary movement and to maintain the power of their Revolutionary People’s Committee.

The masses of Dandakaranya are drawing a clear demarcating line between them and the exploitative government. This demarcating line is being termed as ‘left terrorism’ by the exploitative governments. But in fact, it is well known as ‘Naxalite movement’ and ‘Naxalism’. In fact the term gained a place in the dictionaries. The governments are expressing their natural worry and apprehension that ‘left terrorism’ is extremely dangerous when compared with cross border terrorism, mafia gangs, north east armed movements, the atrocities of the private armies or the landlord’s factional politics. The governments can make friends with such people. In fact it is the governments that encourage them. But left terrorism is not such a kind of it. So they are facing a lot of problems. The statistics reveal the rise of the movement year by year in the broad terrain of India.Government says that ‘left terrorism’ exists in 13 states and 159 districts out of the total 29 states, 650 districts. They are much worried with the fact that out of the 159 districts more than 90 are adivasi districts (there are totally 321 adivasi districts in the country). There are two reasons for this. One is that the adivasi area is an area of rich resources. The second is that in the early part of the 19th century it was the adivasis that aimed weapons on the imperialist exploitation. These apart, the exploitative governments are facing two kinds of problems with the ‘left terrorism’. One is that until now, the adivasi masses never became a hurdle for their looting of the resources in this level. Now the masses are becoming revolutionary conscious. ‘Left terrorism’ is coming in the way of this exploitation. The revolutionary areas are gradually strengthening. So in the past four decades, they are facing the problem of losing control on the wide terrain. In neighbouring Nepal, monarchy has become a prisoner in the hands of the People’s Army. The stories in the media that a revolutionary corridor is being formed from Andhra to Nepal through Dandakaranya are adding to their fears.Elimination of ‘left terrorism’ – immediate agenda of the Indian ruling classPresently the Indian ruling class is taking up two kinds of measures to eliminate ‘left terrorism’ as its immediate agenda. One is to suppress it with police, para-military forces and military actions. It is understood that if necessary it will deploy the Indian army, from a recently released statement of the chief of the army. The second measure is to continue reforms thoroughly. This stick and carrot method is known to one and all in the revolutionary movement. It is also clear that military suppression takes the first place. We have to specially understand that both the measures are being implemented as a part of the Low Intensity conflict strategy of the imperialists. The LIC strategy came into effect after World War II.

The various state governments are taking up many measures in the respective states to suppress the revolutionary movement. In the early part of 1970, the governments suppressed the Naxalbari-Srikakulam movements with cruel repression. They are continuing the same method in the later period also. Anyway they are not finding it easy to do the same. They are expending crores of rupees for the purpose. All the state governments are increasing their police forces quantitatively. They are also forming various kinds of special forces and concentrating on modernizing them. The imperialists are at their back. Initially they formed a Joint Coordination Centre. After a decade they formed the Joint Operational Command in 1998-’99. The initial JCC was formed with the police higher officials of four states. Later when the JOC was formed, the number rose to 9. As years pass, new states are joining the JOC. Presently there are more than 10 states. While the JOC is under the command of the central government, the states are preparing to form separate commands in the district and the local level. The Chathisgarh government is going through a proposal to form a joint command with the state and the central para military forces as like in Kashmir. All these commands aim to eliminate the revolutionary movement with mutual coordination. It would be nothing but an armed police action. Though the UPA government maintains that dealing with Naxalism is the problem of the state governments, it is guaranteeing them that the central government would extend the necessary help in this regard.

The history of reforms is as much as that of the repressive measures. Repression and reforms are the two wheels of the vehicle of repression. While repression is unleashed with the direct supervision of the police and their participation, reforms are taking place under the leadership of the civil officials and political leaders. However in areas where the revolutionary movement is very strong, reforms too are being implemented with the support of armed police. This indicates the revolutionary consciousness of the masses.

To add, it can be undoubtedly said that reforms work as an instrument in the suppression and mechanism of the mass movements. While repression directly suppress the masses with its weapons, the reforms lure the masses with many hopes and try to distance away from the movement. Recently reforms are helping the police a lot to reach the masses. We see a lot of reports and recommendations of commissions that tell the police to deal the masses as friends, lying in the cupboards in the government offices. They are now being dusted and taken serious. In the name of making ‘friends’ with the people the police too are starting mass organizations. The only aim of these organizations is to extend the reforms of the governments to the people. The police have multiple benefits out of these reforms. They are wantonly making the activists of the movement join these organizations. They are even threatening them to join. They are picking out persons who can work as informers for them. They are also preparing a section to highlight their reforms in the villages and benefiting them. This section provides them with all the necessary facilities whenever they go to the villages. Normally they are molded as tools to the ruling class. They swallow the benefits of the reforms. Thus a new rich section is being formed in the villages. They are closely linked with the local lumpen elements. Where there are no lumpens, these elements are brought forward to the stage politically. Women too are organised. (eg – DWAKRA, SHG).

It is a clear fact that the reforms started in the background of the revolutionary struggles. It is also a fact that they are taking thoroughly with the aim of ending these movements. We must understand that the reforms mentioned here are mainly in the economic sector.Why does the government want to implement reforms?There is a section in the Indian Bureaucracy that strongly argues that social and economic conditions are the reason for the starting and strengthening of left terrorism. This section constantly warns that this problem should not be dealt as a law and order problem. As the movement is strengthening, these arguments too are strengthening and are coming more and more into the forefront. It is worth mentioning what the Prime Minister and the Home Minister spoke in the DGP’s meeting in last November in Delhi.

Prime Minister Manmohan singh – “The spectre of left wing extremism continues to haunt us, albeit in new forms. Charu Mazumdar had once talked of a spring thunder over India. In the initial days of the movement, many of them of the best and the brightest had been attracted towards the movement. Almost 40 years later, the Naxalite movement has lost much of its intellectual class, but it has gained in strength and has now spread to over 150 districts all over the country.

“This phenomenon is function of underdevelopment. It is not a coincidence that it is the tribal areas that are the main battleground of left wing extremism today. Large swathes of tribal territory from Andhrapradesh in the south to the borders of UP and Bengal in the north and east have become the hunting ground of left wing extremism, which has the potential to pose an even graver threat than militancy in Jammu and Kashmir and the North East”.

Home Minister – “The widespread socio-economic, political and regional inequities prevalent in the country, coupled with poverty, unemployment and lack of proper infrastructure remain the basic cause for continuance and spatial expansion of Naxalism. Recognizing this and for tackling Naxalism from the developmental perspective, the central government has asked the states to accord high priority in the annual plans to ensure faster integrated development of Naxalite affected districts”.Government allots heavily for reforms

The center and the state governments realize the seriousness of ‘left terrorism’ more than before and so are allotting funds for the development of backward areas mostly. They said that they are establishing a special fund with 5 crores in the 2005-’06 budget to provide grants to the backward areas. It was also proposed in the central budget to start a special scheme in the name of ‘Bharath Nirman’ to create infrastructure facilities with the participation of the public and the private sectors. The aims of this scheme are to provide irrigation, roads, house construction, drinking water, electricity, telephone connectivity and other such things. There were proposals in the recent budget to allot Rs.6235 crores of rupees for the development of SC and STs. On one hand the center is issuing funds liberally. On the other hand, ‘affected’ districts are more liberally issuing funds keeping the welfare of the adivasi areas in view. They are requesting the center for additional funds. The Special Action Committee requested the government two years back for Rs.1600 crores for the development of the ‘Naxal affected’ districts. Minister Dharmarao Athram said that they have spent Rs.400 crores in Gadchiroli district alone. Chathisgarh state government is requesting the Centre for Rs.1450 crores for the development of Naxal affected areas. The state government already spent 400 crores of rupees for this purpose. It is mainly concentrating on developing the ‘Abuzmaad’ area. In addition to this, it is allotting hundreds of crores of special funds in the name of ‘Bastar package’ and ‘Sarguja package’. It is taking up special schemes for the ‘development’ of adivasi areas. While these are the details of funds poured out by the state and the central governments for development, funds are additionally being released in the name of pilot projects as a part of the decisions taken in the regular JOC meetings. They decided to expend specially 15 crores of rupees annually for the development of adivasi districts. Thus all these funds together amount to thousands of crores of rupees. The governments say all of these funds are for the development of adivasis. They say they are for creating infrastructure facilities. While there are 321 adivasi districts in the country, the ruling classes are thinking about the development of adivasis in 90 districts. This is a point to think of. If the government is really concerned about the development of the people, it has to think about the development of the people in all the districts. But the aim of the government is to eliminate the ‘left wing extremism’. On the other hand, people concerned about adivasis illustrate with statistics that if the funds released in the five decades of ‘independent’ India for adivasis are allotted family wise, they could have given one lakh rupees for each family.

Despite this fact the progress achieved is nothing. Anyone closely concerned with the adivasis accept these facts. These facts reveal that the funds spent in the name of ‘development’ in the past 50 years or the funds that are planned to be spent now in the same name, however much the amount may be, is being spent irrespective to the masses and their active participation and their consent. So how can we get better results? To tell more straightly, this expenditure of the exploitative governments is not for the sake of the people. It is mainly to lay roads in the name of infrastructure facilities. Money is being spent for other works also in a big way. The government maintains that they are taking up these programs for the purpose of the people and in their service. But in fact it is formulating each and every program with future view. We cannot understand this unless we observe them keenly. We see that the school buildings being built now in the name of reforms are totally different to those built in the past. It is the same with hospitals too. It is so because the schools in the villages are police guesthouses. Children’s education is at a loss. The police are not secure with the old buildings and so they are building new ones with absolute concealment. One might consider them as developmental programs. One might think that drinking water, irrigation, solar lights and other such things; personal loans and subsidies are part of development. One might also think that all these help for the betterment of the people’s lives. If the governments are spending so much money for developmental programs why is the revolutionary movement obstructing them? Let us discuss this important question. Why does the revolutionary movement and people opposing reforms?The revolutionary masses strongly feel that the reforms being taken up by the exploitative governments with crores and crores of rupees are not for their development. So they are opposing them. They feel that all the schemes the government is taking up in the name of creating infrastructure facilities are mainly to loot the local resources and that they help the imperialist organizations and multi national corporations and the Indian big capitalist organizations. They also understand that the roads are laid to invite their investment. That is the reason they are opposing these reforms. The fresh proposal for mines needs mention. The common person in the country is already facing the burden of crores and crores of rupees of external and internal loans. The government is taking up ‘development works’ with more loans. So the people are opposing them. They want development through self-reliance. More than anything they understood that each and every action taken up in the name of development of adivasi areas are dependent on the international liquid capital and is actually for the development of imperialists. People are opposing the reforms since they understood the actual aim of it.

Is there nothing that helps the masses? This is not at all a point of discussion. It is needless to mention that the governments are not unwise to take up something that does not help the people at all. It is clear that each and every scheme of the dozens of schemes brought forward in the name of reforms is closely related with the lives of poor people. Only thus the governments will be able to attract the people with the economic interests. They will be able to lure the people. They will be able to split them by luring them with money. These might be personal or collective. Whatever it is, in essence they are one and the same. They divert the revolutionary consciousness of the masses.

Bourgeoisie liberal intellectuals and some progressive thinkers are influenced with the heavy propaganda of the Indian government about development and are under the illusion that it is possible to achieve fundamental changes in the lives of the exploited masses abiding the Indian constitution. They really feel that we have to achieve development by using these reforms. The government, its intellectuals and their ‘progressive’ movements say that the backward areas are the centers of Naxalites. They are also rightly mentioning the reasons such as illiteracy, poverty, unemployment, ill health and other such things. They are concluding that these are the reasons for the backwardness of these areas. They are spending crores of money to

uplift them. Their owners (imperialists) too are declaring the countries as a whole as backward and are giving money in the name of loans, grants and aids. It is a fact that they are the reason for the backwardness of these areas and countries. It is equally a fact that these measures being taken up for their uplift help only for the development of the imperialists. They say that industries be established here to eradicate backwardness and unemployment. They say we have to increase the opportunities for employment. Establishing industries is nothing but exploring the abundant minerals in Dandakaranya. It might be in Chargam, Bailadilla, Surjagarh, Kuvvemari or Bodheghat. They will lay the Raoghat railway line to transport the products from these industries. They ask the ESSAR Company to lay a pipeline to link Bailadilla to the harbor in Visakhapatnam. We are aware that the KK railway line was laid for this purpose. For similar purposes, they will construct NH – 16 and other such things. If the people resent, personnel of the armed Border Road Organisation are deployed and the works are taken up.

This is the experience of DK for the past 15 years. However we wish to tell the world that the people are not allowing such works to be taken up. This is the greatness of revolutionary movement. If it really meant for the people, they would not stop them! They say they would develop tourism to eradicate unemployment. In fact whom do they uplift? Is it the comprador capitalists and imperialists? Or is it the masses? Is this self-reliance or dependency? This is to be discussed.

These intellectuals also feel that it is the civil service officials of the government that implement these reforms. It is wrong. Normally the high civil officials belong to the ruling classes. They only try to implement the government schemes. If one thinks that they are in civil dress and work in civil departments and do not consider their class character or for whom their services are dedicated and the aim of their implementing the reforms, it would only be innocently getting victimized to their conspiracy. We must understand that there is a nexus between the civil, police officials and the political leaders. Similarly, many NGOs are coming forward to implement the reforms of the government among the masses. There are many such organizations starting from ‘Ramakrishna mission’ to ‘Rupanthar’ with a progressive guise. All these are pure reactionary organizations working with imperialist funds. It is the weakness of the progressive democrats and liberal bourgeoisie not to understand the actual character of the deceiving reforms and the class nature of Indian constitution. On one hand they are condemning the suppressive actions of the armed forces of the Indian government, though with a feeble voice. On the other hand, they hope we have to permit the sugarcoated knife like reforms. This is nothing but useless liberal nature. As long as they do not come out of this they condemn state violence as well as revolutionary violence. They claim patriotism in the path of non-violence and feel contented. They say the reforms are to be implemented. If they hesitate to dare and support the actual patriotic and anti imperialist revolutionary movement wholeheartedly, they cannot do anything good to the masses and the country. We have to understand the NGOs too in the similar manner. The NGOs are mushrooming and are concentrating in the adivasi areas. Most of these NGOs help for the interests of the imperialists. More so, they are working directly under the guidance of the imperialists.

It is not surprising that the President of the country recently opined that the programs and policies of the government could be implemented among the masses effectively without the participation of the NGOs. His dreams are not only to materialize Vision – 2020. We cannot understand the opinions and dreams of the President of India unless we understand the imperialist globalisation. If one really thinks of self-reliance and independence of this country, they can understand that Vision – 2020 is a fraud, that it does nothing but postpone the people’s problems for another 15 years, that we have to fulfill the interests of the imperialists until then. This is the actual message of the President. The Indian masses must be ashamed of this statement. The government that cannot work for the masses without the participation of NGOs must immediately be dissolved. The President said that the term NGO does not express their services properly and that we have to call them Organizations for social change. This is insulting. The patriotic revolutionary movements must get ready to chase away all the funded NGOs from the country.The revolutionary movements developing in the adivasi areas are opposing these reforms politically. The revolutionary masses are ready to retaliate the thousands of animal like armed forces. Similarly they are also clearly opposing the sweet bullet like reforms. The police are bullying the villages, combing the forests and are arresting the masses in a big way. Atrocities on women are on the rise. People are killed in fake encounters and the police declare them to be left wing extremists/Naxalites. Students, employees, traders and all the common people belonging to all classes are facing the effect of repression. The people feel that without defeating this repression, there is no guarantee for their villages and for their lives. So they are inevitably getting ready to fight it back united. This is a war. This is the People’s War between the masses on one hand and the exploitative government, its armed forces on the other. Those who feel that this is to be defeated must not hesitate to fight back the reforms too. Since they are financial reforms that are coming forward in the name of development, the revolutionary movement deals patiently and works with the aim of exposing them. It explains the actual purpose of these programs to the people and makes them boycott the same.

Reforms and repressionThe aim of both reforms and repression is one and the same. It is to eliminate the revolutionary movement. Both are two kinds of bullets. The forms and methods are different. In the Naxalbari – Srikakulam struggles, the participation of the reforms in deviating the masses from the revolutionary movement is as much as that of the armed forces in the suppression of the movement. While repression unleashes violence on the masses physically the reforms distance them away intellectually and physically. The masses strongly feel that this constitution does not belong to them. They are clear that this is an exploitative system. They realize that the ruling classes are dependent on the international liquid capital and that they are striving for its development and fulfilling their interests. They understand that the ruling classes do not wish the real development of the masses and that they are not in that direction. The revolutionary masses wish to have a patriotic self-reliance. So why will the masses allow fake reforms? When the masses understand the reforms that are going to increase with the aim of imperialist globalisation in the present world, why should they not oppose them? The media that is in the hands of the ruling class can take up ill propaganda to the maximum extent that opposing these reforms is counter development, anti social and undemocratic. It is its nature. We are not under the illusion that the ruling class or its media would highlight or praise the revolutionary movement. We have to place the example of Chandrababu’s Janmabhumi. We have to place the example of the afternoon meals scheme, the misappropriation in the construction of the roads in Bihar and the shallowness in Kam ke badlaa anaj. We have to place the example of the fake sarvasiksha abhiyan that could not actually provide education until now. We have to place each and every failure of the system before the masses. One might ask that we could oppose the misappropriation and immorality in these reforms and come forward to implement them sincerely. This would be like trying to remove dust from the meals plate on the ground. If this alone is the aim of the revolutionary movement, it is not necessary to take up armed struggle.The government wishes that left-wing extremists should not come in the way of reforms. The state is getting down to implement them cruelly. It says we have to allow the parliamentary elections and the elections for the village Panchayat, Assembly and the Loksabha. It warns that the reforms are implemented through them and that they should not be opposed. If the people oppose, it implements them by force and cruelty. There are a lot of such cases in Gadchiroli. The imperialists are unleashing democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan according to their will. So it is a matter of fact for them to implement the reforms here. To put it in one word, we have to allow each and every work of the government as it wishes to be. We should not come in the way of the government. If it so happens, it will bring forward the issue of leftwing extremism. This is the stand of the present exploitative government.

The masses are fighting against it. They are fighting with arms to achieve power. They are establishing their own new economic order, the politics of people’s democracy and revolutionary culture. In order to strengthen and expand they have no alternative other than defeating repression and reforms. The people believe in the Revolutionary path. Not the path of reforms. People are aspiring for revolutionary changes. They are not aspiring for the fake reforms. They are fighting to end the big landlord, big bourgeoisie and imperialist elements and the military system that is protecting them. They do not wish to maintain the system that exploited them until now. People strongly opine that any number of parliamentary democratic reforms in this system do not change their lives fundamentally. So they are ready to fight back the repression and reforms. They are ready to fight both the iron bullets and the sweet bullets. Recently the Chathisgarh government banned the Revolutionary mass organizations. This reveals the actual dictatorial character of the governments that nominally speak of the development of adivasis. Despite any number of such reforms, the people will not drift away from the path of struggle. One who loves democracy, one who is patriotic, one who wishes self-reliance, one who opposes the exploitation of imperialism and that of the multi-national corporations and imperialist globalisation, must stand on the side of the revolutionary movement. They have to be ready for struggles and sacrifices. The present situation demands so.Let us welcome the self-reliance of the revolutionary massesThe masses of Dandakaranya are building an alternative social order. This is being taken up in the method of self-reliance and reliance. They are giving prior importance to distributing the lands for the development of agriculture and for irrigation facilities. They are trying to have remunerative prices for collection of products and selling them in a regular method. Moreover, they are formulating syllabus in education without any sort of myth and to develop democratic values in scientific methods and are running schools. They are taking care about the health of the people. They are making efforts to develop Ayurvedam and Allopathy medicine in the primary level. They are respecting the people’s culture. They are teaching the masses to leave aside the outdated traditions and are introducing new traditions. They say women are no more secondary citizens and are trying to establish equalitarian and democratic relations between men and women. They are fighting to eliminate the patriarchal, male dominated ideology. They are taking up the construction of roads in the villages to the necessary extent. They are paying special attention towards sanitation in the adivasi villages, mainly in the rainy season.

All these are taking place as per the decision of the masses and with their participation. Many works are being taken up in the method of mutual cooperation. It is noteworthy that the Revolutionary People’s Committee leads each and every work. This shows the organized strength of the masses. It is proved that whatever the 5th and the 6th schedules of the Indian Constitution speak, or the 73rd amendment gives through the gram sabhas, it would not help the poor people in this country. So they are formulating policies to dig mines, to construct ponds, to protect forests, to run schools and hospitals. They are formulating policies so that people decide about all these and all the powers must lie with the Revolutionary gram sabhas. That is why the exploitative government is intolerant. The people are not ready to do any work as a part of its policies, as per its orders and direction. This is shaking its foundations. They are unable to get their things done without the armed khakhis. So it is worried that there is an alternative government in DK. It is propagating the development works of the people as counter development. It says they are doing so due to the pressure of anti social elements and their threats and is obstructing them to do so.

Deciding what is development is also a fundamental question related to class nature. People are boycotting the reforms of the exploitative government as a matter of fact. They are becoming conscious with revolutionary politics and are not surrendering to its influences. They are fighting back the severe repression that is unleashed in the process of boycotting and are ready for sacrifices. They are least hesitant to lose the present temporary poisonous reforms for the sake of their long-term interests. The revolutionary movement is making efforts to prepare those of the masses that are not ready for the same. The movement decided not to pressurize the masses in any situation. It leaves the issue for the will and wish of the people. It is striving to raise the consciousness of the people and leaves the final decision to the masses. This is mass line – class line. It is the Revolutionary line. However much obstructions they face temporarily, however much difficulties and problems they face in the initial stage, they consider them inevitable. They are confident that they can overcome them if they work with a will and that they would certainly achieve victory. So the masses are opposing the reforms that are indulging in the suppression of the movement. There is nothing that the masses lose by opposing the reforms. In the place of the development the government claims, people’s development through self-reliance withstands and strengthens.